Beer

Long exposures are usually pretty fun and this one didn't let down. The real trick here was getting the set to stay completely black for the whole 8 second exposure. We turned off all the lights in the studio and wore black gloves and long sleeves while moving the flash light around behind the bottle.

I also wanted to make sure and get some nice color out of the bottle. For this, I used one of those cheap glow sticks from Target. As it turns out, it was just the color I was looking for.

Seeds of Change

One fun thing about having family members spread all across the country is getting all the boxes of goodies during the holidays. Given how random some of the gifts are, I can usually count on getting something will act as a new prop. This year, it was chocolate covered sunflower seeds.

Death of Incandescent Bulbs

I recently read an article on Feature Shoot about Jonathon Kambouris and his series of exploding medicine and decided to explode some things of my own. I had no idea what to expect from this, I'd never hit a light bulb with a hammer before, but I was pleasantly surprised by the results.

The hardest part was getting the exposure right. I had no idea what kind of light was going to come out of the bulb once I put a hammer through it, so I did some tests of with the light on and off, and shot for a happy medium.

I was trying to go for an effect of the bulb overheating and blowing itself up. This is clearly a composite, but I think a level of mystery still exists in the final product. As long as it isn't absolutely clear where the different pieces are, the image still works as a whole.

The composite starts from the bulb in a few different states, and then it's just a matter of retouching. Here are a couple of the base images.

On a side note, light bulbs are much more durable that I thought. It took me six tries to get this one to break.

Shoes

I often look through my girlfriend's fashion magazines for inspiration. It works out well because she makes a lot of the items found in the magazines available for me to shoot.

I found this in an issue of Real Simple a few months ago. I really like their style of photography, it's, well, simple. They often take advantage of bold colors and forgo the flashy after-effects that are growing in popularity in the fashion world.

This is a simple, one-light set up with a flagged umbrella on the right side and a large white reflector on the left to help fill in the shadows. I used the flag to keep the light from going right into the table and back into the lens. You could probably do the same with a small softbox, but I was trying to get as much wrap as I could with the umbrella.

Wish List

The other day my girlfriend, Emily, came to me with a rather unusual reques. She wanted help writing her Christmas wish list. Emily explained that her sister, Eileen, wasn't sure what sort of clothes to get Emily for Christmas because they don't see each other on a regular basis and Eileen had grown unfamiliar with Emily's fashion sense. I have the same problem with my brother.

Emily's sister, Eileen, suggested she take photos of herself in her most regular outfits and send them over. I think Eileen was expecting Emily to stand in front of a mirror with her camera phone, but once I heard about the assignment that just wasn't good enough for me. I certainly wasn't going to pass up the opportunity to take photos of my favorite model.

Im on a BIKE

I finally got over my shopper's remorse and bought a bike. I ride it almost every day so I don't know why I was so hesitant to buy it in the first place, maybe it's a northern thing.

Like any other photographer who buys a new toy, the first thing I had to do was take some photos of it. This is my favorite.

New Studio

I recently moved back to Lawrence and into a house with a shed that is big enough to use as a studio. It wasn't the reason we decided to live there, but when I realized I would have the space all to myself I was pretty excited. I swept out the dust and spider webs and this is what I got.

One benefit of having a studio in a garage, that I didn't anticipate, is having unexpected visitors from the wilderness. I don't know any bee keepers, so I can't claim to have planned this, but I tried to take advantage.

Well, it is white...

Sometimes you just have to use what you have. The day I took these photos I had a laundry room with lots of windows, a dryer with a white top, and girlfriend that wanted to make some crepes.

The Clearing

There is something funny about the original name for the area that is now inhabited by the City of Portland. Although there is a lot of open green space in the city, "clear" isn't the first thing that came to mind when I visited the city. Portland is a bustling metropolitan with a multifaceted tone that takes more than a quick glance to digest.

Powell's Books If you're ever in Portland I definitely recommend checking out Powell's Books. They have a whole section devoted to books about growing roses. If you cant find it at Powell's, you cant find it.

The reason I went to Portland to start with was to see my Brother who lives there. I'm sure I'd catch some flack if I didn't include at least one photo of the two of them.

My Nephew Edison. He like to smell the flowers.

Portland has a well used public transit system that makes it really easy to get around town. Plus you never know what kind of characters you might meet.

On the way back I flew over the mountains. Luckily it was a clear day and there was plenty of inspiring geology to see along the way. It made me wish I could just charter a plane and shoot all day.